NEWS

Alibaba Group Holding is set to launch a new membership programme spanning a range of services from an online marketplace to food delivery and travel booking, according to Chinese media reports and a person with knowledge of the matter, as the tech giant strives to recapture its leading position in China’s competitive e-commerce market. Alibaba’s […]

Shanghai aims to complete at least five new large-scale data centres by the end of the year to meet rising demand for computing power, as China enhances its digital infrastructure to support its artificial intelligence ambitions. The initiative is expected to elevate the city’s AI computing capacity beyond 100 exaflops, according to a recent plan

Hong Kong’s new stablecoin law sets a global standard but might initially sideline innovative start-ups while encouraging big local and mainland financial firms to participate in the cryptocurrency sector’s growth, industry experts said. The city rolled out one of the most stringent stablecoin regimes globally and kick-started the application process for potential issuers on Friday,

Chinese internet search giant Baidu is partnering with US ride-hailing firm Lyft to launch robotaxis in Europe, marking the latest initiative by a Chinese company to expand its autonomous-driving technologies globally. Under the partnership, the companies plan to introduce autonomous vehicles in Germany and the UK as early as 2026, pending approval from local regulators,

Amap, a mapping and local services provider under Alibaba Group Holding, launched an artificial intelligence (AI) agent on Monday, giving its services a major tech upgrade. Powered by Alibaba’s in-house AI models, the agent can navigate roads, plan trips and recommend places to visit using natural language commands such as “send me to the office”

A hi-tech area in Beijing will host a shopping festival for robots, where buyers can receive up to 250,000 yuan (US$34,700) in subsidies when purchasing robots from some of the country’s leading manufacturers of the advanced technology. The event, which runs through August 17, will cover products from leading Chinese brands such as Unitree Robotics

ByteDance’s Douyin, the Chinese counterpart of TikTok, is set to heat up competition in China’s instant commerce sector against Alibaba Group Holding, JD.com and Meituan with the merger of its online shopping platform and instant delivery service, according to a report by Chinese tech news website 36Kr on Wednesday. Douyin Supermarket, akin to TikTok Shop,

China’s cyberspace regulator has summoned Nvidia to explain whether its H20 chips have any “back-door safety” risks, casting a shadow over the US chip giant’s local operations. The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), the agency responsible for cybersecurity, said in a statement on Thursday that it had summoned and interviewed Nvidia regarding the risks associated

The alliance reflected the growing efforts in the country’s semiconductor industry and nascent AI sector to push forward Beijing’s tech self-sufficiency agenda – covering computing hardware, software and services – amid US export restrictions on China and rising geopolitical tensions. The CAC said its inquiry was based on recent reports of “serious security issues” involving

Electric-vehicle (EV) makers from Tesla to Nio are shifting their focus from price cuts to developing spacious family friendly, long-range vehicles for the mainland Chinese market. The premium SUV segment has emerged as the new battlefront, as carmakers heed Beijing’s call to end a brutal price war and chase affluent consumers to improve their bottom